


lost lovers' refrain

by lanyon



Category: Ant-Man (2015), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Humour, M/M, Spoilers for Ant-Man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-17
Updated: 2015-07-17
Packaged: 2018-04-09 20:53:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4363844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanyon/pseuds/lanyon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scott is enlisted to get Bucky out of a tight spot.</p><p><b>Spoilers</b> for Ant-Man, up to and including the post-credit sequence.</p>
            </blockquote>





	lost lovers' refrain

**Author's Note:**

> +title from kodaline.  
> +blame/thanks to neve, michelle, heemy for not talking me out of this.

“You know a guy, huh?”

“That’s what I said.”

“You know _this_ guy.”

Scott has never felt so judged. Well. Not since this morning when Hope and Hank gave him those eerily matching expressions of disapproval because of the amount of sugar he put into his tea. Well. He didn’t put it in. The ants did. Well. They may have been operating under guidance. 

Scott has never felt so judged by Captain America before but, then again, they’ve never met before.

“Are you in a bike gang, son?”

Oh, man. It’s getting worse. The guy who normally wears an American flag onesie is judging the suit.

“ _Steve_ -” Falcon is rolling his eyes and now Captain America is laughing and, hey, it turns out that Cap has a sense of humour. It turns out that Cap was making fun of Scott. Who knew he was capable of being an asshole? Not Scott, that’s for sure.

.

So, a fox, a bag of grain and a chicken all have to cross the river.

.

So, a guy with a metal arm, a kill switch and an intricate attachment to a vice grip has to be rescued.

.

“He hasn’t killed anyone in a good thirty-eight hours,” says Falcon. 

Captain America clears his throat.

“Oh, that’s right. There was that HYDRA guy this morning. You’re not HYDRA, are you?”

“ _No_ ,” says Scott. He’s beginning to think that the Avengers are cooler on TV. 

“That’s good. He really doesn’t like HYDRA.” 

.

“So, does the metal arm have to stay attached?” 

Captain America’s face does this awful, awful thing. It crumples and Scott could swear that there’s the briefest of lip-trembles and, in that moment, Scott promises himself he’ll do anything in his power to avoid making Captain America’s face look like that, ever again.

“Okay, okay. The arm stays on.”

“Latest intel which is, admittedly, from the eighties, suggests that the arm is wired centrally so, you know. Spine and brain,” says Falcon, pretty helpfully.

“Got it,” says Scott. “How did he get into this in the first place?” 

“We’re not entirely sure. He may have done it to himself.”

“Have you tried asking him?”

“Bucky, uh. He doesn’t talk much.” 

Scott flinches. It’s that expression again. How does the Falcon even deal with this on a daily basis? An hourly basis? Maybe this is Captain America’s real superpower and it’s not just about how he looks in spandex.

.

“Hey, buddy,” says Scott. 

Bucky - and, seriously, that’s a very unassuming name for a guy with a metal arm and murder in his eyes - looks up at him.

“So, what have we got here?”

Bucky’s expression doesn’t actually change and yet he somehow conveys a sense of the utmost disdain. 

“Okay, not a talker. That’s cool. I’m here to help you, though, so I’d appreciate if you didn’t, you know, kill me.”

Bucky flashes his teeth. It’s a smile or a grimace and, either way, Scott is counting it as a win. Falcon and Captain America are hovering nearby. Not literally, though Falcon can definitely hover. He can also be knocked on his ass and Scott’s not forgetting that any time soon.

Scott moves closer and it looks like the jaws of the vice grip are more like two saws, digging into the metal arm. “Can you feel that?” he asks.

Bucky rolls his eyes so hard that Scott could swear the orbit of the world just tilted. 

“Yes, okay. But is it painful?”

Bucky looks confused, as though he hasn’t contemplated the concept till now.

“Jeez, Buck.” 

Scott doesn’t turn around because he knows that Cap’s making that face again. “It’s gonna get stuck like that!” he says. “Your face, your face! Not Bucky’s arm. That’s coming right out of here.” 

Bucky snorts and silence falls. 

“Okay, so, this kind of reminds me of the time one of my dorm-mates got his hand stuck in a vending machine.”

“Right, Sam said you studied engineering,” says Cap. His tone is light and if Scott knows Cap, and he likes to think he does after their ten-minute acquaintance, he’s trying to keep the mood up. “I know an engineer but we’re not really on speaking terms right now. So. Uh. You got a professional trick you can use?”

“Something like that. Did Sam also tell you that I’m a convicted thief?”

Bucky’s eyebrows shoot up and Scott can feel the disapproval from Cap, radiating behind him. Bucky seems pretty okay with it though.

“So, basically, I’m gonna have to get in here and push those very sharp saw-teeth out of the arm. It might hurt. If, uh, you feel pain. You got any update on that?” 

Bucky’s back to looking blank.

“Okay, these friends of mine? Well, they’re more than friends. Well, she’s my girlfriend, I guess? We’re not putting labels on it yet. But feelings. It’s good to talk about them.”

There’s a strangled sound behind him and Cap’s looking pink and Falcon is thumping at his own chest, like something went down wrong. 

“What? What did I say?”

 

“Nothing, man. Nothing. You keep on with your bad self.”

Scott humphs and turns back to face Bucky. “Okay. I’m gonna press this button on my glove and I’ll shrink down, really small. Then I can get in between the teeth and push ‘em out. Cap? You want to make yourself useful and pull up on the upper jaw as I free the arm. Soon as you can, Bucky, pull your arm out. Easy as anything.” 

“And what about me?”

“You stay over there, Falcon,” says Scott. “And I won’t tell Cap about the time I kicked your ass.”

“What?” asks Cap.

.

It takes longer than Scott would like. He whistles while he works. It keeps the spirits up. Some of the teeth are embedded pretty deeply and from the way that Bucky is grunting, it must be kinda painful, after all

Scott takes a running start at the last, stubborn, metal tooth and Cap heaves the jaws open and Bucky’s arm slithers out, sparking slightly, and then Bucky himself slithers to the floor.

.

“It’s only okay when Natasha does it,” says Sam. “The thigh thing. It’s only okay when she does it. And maybe Cap.”

.

“You’re kind of a blunt object,” says Cap. 

Scott thinks it’s a compliment, coming from a guy who flings a shield around.

“Cap doesn’t like subtlety,” says Falcon.

Cap’s cradling Bucky in his arms, and wiping his forehead with a damp cloth. Bucky’s somewhere between conscious and unconscious and, yeah, Scott could believe that of Cap: from the way Cap’s looking at Bucky, discretion’s not the better part of his valour. Bucky mumbles a little and turns his face towards Cap’s chest. Cap’s fingers linger over Bucky’s cheek and Bucky purses his lips a little and sighs.

“So,” says Cap. “You wanna be in our gang?”

.

Hope is going to kill him.


End file.
